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Bangladesh should heed U.S. call for worker rights: Editorial

Tues., July 2, 2013

After the Bangladesh garment factory collapse in April that left more than 1,100 workers dead, their broken bodies mingled with brand-name clothing tags, the country’s politicians and sweatshop owners no doubt hoped the resulting furor over worker rights and safety would soon blow over. It hasn’t.

Bangladesh’s garment workers are notoriously poorly paid, making as little as $38 a month to produce cheap clothing for consumers in far richer countries. They are commonly abused, largely non-unionized and routinely exposed to fire and other workplace hazards. The Rana Plaza factory collapse in Dhaka was one of the worst industrial disasters ever.

Protests continue on the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh Saturday more than two months after a devastating factory fire killed more than 1,100 garment industry workers. (MUNIR UZ ZAMAN / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Now, in a stinging rebuke to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government, U.S. President Barack Obama is moving to suspend Bangladesh’s trade benefits until its officials deliver on promises to improve worker rights and workplace safety. Under pressure from American trade unions, Obama served notice late last week that he intends to revoke the break on some tariffs that Bangladesh enjoys, and make it harder for certain products to get into the U.S. market.

At root this is a symbolic gesture, affecting barely $40 million worth of Bangladeshi products such as tobacco and sports gear. Clothing isn’t affected. Still, the howls of protest from Dhaka show how significant it is. The Hasina government called Obama’s move “harsh” and “shocking.” Clearly, it had some effect. It’s a black eye for Bangladesh, and confirms that conditions there fall short of what the U.S. considers to be “basic standards” of worker rights and safety.

The big fear in Dhaka is that Europe and Canada will follow suit and rescind preferential access for Bangladesh garments. That would hurt the fast-growing $19-billion industry and its four million workers. Currently the U.S. buys about 25 per cent of Bangladesh’s garment output but applies a tariff that averages 15 per cent, driving up the purchase cost. Europe and Canada in contrast offer easy, duty-free access for clothing. Europe buys 60 per cent of the country’s output, and Canada 5 per cent.

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has no plans to follow Washington’s lead, partly out of a principled concern not to put poor workers out of jobs. But the European Union has been mulling trade action, and Washington’s move can only strengthen the hand of those who want to rescind Bangladesh’s duty-free privilege.

That threat should concentrate minds around the Hasina cabinet table, where politicians have been scandalously tolerant of employer intimidation and brutality, appalling working conditions and criminally unsafe workplaces.

Galvanized by the Rana Plaza disaster, and fearing a consumer backlash, Canadian and international brand-name clothing firms that have goods made in Bangladesh are marshalling their collective commercial clout to force some changes. Many have signed the Accord on Fire and Building Safety, which provides for independent, transparent safety inspections. It requires safety committees and management and worker health and safety training. It stipulates that employees can refuse unsafe work. Suppliers who don’t live up to the code face repercussions.

This offers consumers some assurance, at least, that for a small markup per purchase they are buying from retailers who take worker safety seriously. But market initiatives to improve conditions need to be bolstered by effective regulation and enforcement.

The Hasina government has promised to increase wages, to let workers form unions and to better enforce its safety laws. Yet as the Obama administration’s frustration has just signalled, its efforts have been half-hearted at best. It still reflexively defers to affluent and politically connected factory owners who balk at improving workers’ rights or investing in safety. That has to change.

Profits shouldn’t trump lives. And the world is no longer looking the other way.

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